OOTP goes HOCKEY!!!!

[Malte Schwarz]

We will not display a player role in the game, as we assume that it's an interesting part of the game to find it out for yourself. However, there will be a detailed scouting report (in addition to the player's attributes), to make it easier to estimate the player's personality and his general orientation.

[Hoiles]

OK, thanks for the response. The detailed scouting report does seem to be a nice touch.

[viktors89]

Best news ever

Thanks to everyone that is working on this.

I think I love you

[dave1927p]

Will there be an easy way for the user to tweak the Average Goals Per Game? I'd also like the ability to change the talent generated similar to EHM.

EDIT: And since i'm just throwing features out randomly i might as well ask for HOF Voting system. (gm hockey logique eclectic does it too)

I really hope that GMs and Coaches are included in the HOF as a Builder. It's one of the ultimate goals of a GM or coach. I like how ootp keeps track or the leaders (although i hate they mix up the gm, manager, bench coach stats in this leaderboard but that's another story). I really like in OOTP too how in commish mode you can manually select who you want in the HOF.

And i'm crossing my fingers for expansion draft... :P

[Verloren]

Originally Posted by Hoiles

If you'd like to sort by multiple skills then obviously the game should do that and will, I was suggesting to add another category for a streamlined search. Just from my experience with EHM, there were tons of skill categories and at times I thought it was unclear what to look for.

For example, if you needed a penalty killer you might look for someone with high positioning and/or checking (and another category too), but it would be unclear if you'd want someone who's slightly above average in both skills, or very high in just one. In the end you might have this huge list that's not very pleasant to sort through.

Just as a comparison, OOTP allows you to search for either "starting pitchers", "middle relievers" or "closers" which is convenient, although you're obviously not obligated to put them in those roles.

Yet pitcher use in OOTP is partially dependent on skillset and stamina.

In EHM, you can have guys with a similar skillset and mental stats, yet one will be a better defensive forward than the other, thanks to the OFF/DEF rating scheme. I have had players with less skill and similar mental attributes do better in my system thanks to OFF/DEF.

Somewhat an addition to Erik's earlier post - a defenceman IRL who is seen making great passes in practice, fluid skating, and good stickhandling. He is solid in his own zone too. Based on his skills, he looks like a budding offensive defenceman who can join the rush. But he doesn't because the player doesn't feel comfortable doing so in games, opting to sit back. Does that make him an offensive defenseman, playmaking defenseman, or a two-way defenseman?

There's the factor the player's own mentality, previous coaching, or even the system. The Chicago Wolves of the AHL are showing this right now, despite having a group of guys who have been there for a while, and proven AHL scoring talent. New system of play, new coaching, some new linemates, and some players playing out of position.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by dave1927p

Will there be an easy way for the user to tweak the Average Goals Per Game? I'd also like the ability to change the talent generated similar to EHM.

This was far and away my biggest gripe with EHM. It never had a talent generation system. The game used a re-gen system which means that as players retired they would come back into the game as young players from the same country but with different names.

You could always count on a Dominik hasek re-gen in the first or second offseason and you could keep track of him and then draft him and your goalie spot would be solved for the next 20 years.
You could easily spot him because it would be a good young goalie from the Czech republic and he would always have 20 flair.

It was really easy to watch players retire and then come back into the game if you knew what to look for.
I tried to not cheat but it was hard when I was scouting a draft and instantly could recognize a player.
I mean, what other goalie would be born in South Africa other than the Kolzig re-gen?

[dave1927p]

Also I think what would be a very fun feature is to have pro teams sign contracts with affiliate teams. (So in the NHL you'd negotiate with the AHL, ECHL, CHL, UHL clubs to reach an agreement). Of course, some pro teams own their own affiliates so there'd be no negotiating there...

One last thing is i hope owners will play a role in this game. I'd love to be a GM of a team only to have owner "problems" so you have to cut budget. Or having the owner tell you to sign a big player even if you don't advise it (ilya kovalchuk to NJ screams the owners idea, not the GM) The best owners are the ones that just sit back and let the GM do his work, but as we all know that doesn't always happen...

Okay, i'm done with the random feature posts (for the time being )

[joefromchicago]

At the risk of being the fly in the punchbowl, I'd like to add a brief note here:

A lot of people are already comparing the WTHM game to EHM, and suggesting which parts of EHM should be saved, which should be improved, and which should be discarded. That's fine, I'd like to see the WTHM game take the best elements from every hockey simulation and incorporate them (I used to play Strat-O-Matic hockey -- there are a lot of good ideas there too).

But I've never played EHM, and I imagine there are more than a few people here who have also never played it. I'm excited about this game because I play OOTP, and it is a fantastic sports simulation. The only thing that draws me to the WTHM game, then, is the expectation that it will share many of the attributes that make OOTP such a great game. In short, I'm not looking for EHM 2.0, I'm looking for OOTP on ice. So I urge the designers to keep this in mind as they consider the suggestions offered here.

And besides, as I understand it, EHM is no longer being supported. If it was such a good game, why is it defunct?

[hluraven]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

And besides, as I understand it, EHM is no longer being supported. If it was such a good game, why is it defunct?

It was making a loss as the vast majority of players were playing pirated versions rather than buying it. That was certainly the official line, basically it didn't sell enough but it was near universally accepted as being an extremely good game.

[RBLwebguy]

One key element for me is to have an OOTP like relationship with a Lahman type database where I can run historical season after season or import players from all over various seasons. I am not necessarily looking for accurate replay but the ability for each of the players to be imported and re-rate or take hits in talent thus creating a new history so to speak. That is why I love OOTP plus the customization factor in terms of the league size and structure, rinks, sponsors, team names, mods for logos, etc.

[viktors89]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

At the risk of being the fly in the punchbowl, I'd like to add a brief note here:

A lot of people are already comparing the WTHM game to EHM, and suggesting which parts of EHM should be saved, which should be improved, and which should be discarded. That's fine, I'd like to see the WTHM game take the best elements from every hockey simulation and incorporate them (I used to play Strat-O-Matic hockey -- there are a lot of good ideas there too).

But I've never played EHM, and I imagine there are more than a few people here who have also never played it. I'm excited about this game because I play OOTP, and it is a fantastic sports simulation. The only thing that draws me to the WTHM game, then, is the expectation that it will share many of the attributes that make OOTP such a great game. In short, I'm not looking for EHM 2.0, I'm looking for OOTP on ice. So I urge the designers to keep this in mind as they consider the suggestions offered here.

And besides, as I understand it, EHM is no longer being supported. If it was such a good game, why is it defunct?

I understand your point and I also want this new game to have the same good things that OOTP has and that made the series unique (even though I've never played it as I just learned from this company and games yesterday!)

I don't think anyone of the people here wants EHM 2.0, but to take some good things from them (there were a lot tbh).

Question, does OOTP show the games? Like Football manager does in 3D?

[dave1927p]

Originally Posted by hluraven

It was making a loss as the vast majority of players were playing pirated versions rather than buying it. That was certainly the official line, basically it didn't sell enough but it was near universally accepted as being an extremely good game.

SI also bought lisences for alot of pro leagues which was great to officially have but very costly - now it's easy to go around the lisences and leave it to the modders or user to make the real rosters/teamnames

Many great ideas fail for many different reasons. People just didn't know of the game. Still, EHM paved the way for a new hockey sim and here's hoping that this will be the one to take the crown.

[Bojangles]

First of all, very excited about this since there's a very good chance that, not only will a hockey management game get made, but it should be a very high quality one. I guess I should finally try OOTP Baseball so I can see for myself if all the rave reviews are deserved. (Not really into baseball)

Originally Posted by hluraven

It was making a loss as the vast majority of players were playing pirated versions rather than buying it. That was certainly the official line, basically it didn't sell enough but it was near universally accepted as being an extremely good game.

I'm not underplaying how much it must've cost for the licences. They didn't market it properly and they probably did lose money on the year. Saying that, I personally think it wasn't a coincidence that they dropped development of EHM about six months before they announced that one of the Collyers had had an epiphany while on a plane a few months ago. It was the doomed Football Manager Live game. I took part in the beta testing of it, and got a chance to play against the guys who were developing it.

I'd mention something about EHM to them while the match was going on, and they'd usually reply something like "best game I've ever worked on". So it seemed most of the staff working on it were redeployed EHM guys.

Anyway, FML died last year some time. Good riddance.

[dave1927p]

my last random feature hope in this thread, i promise - i hope that we have the ability to change the "AI Options" (Ratings weight percentage, current, previous, 2 years) as well as the Aging, Developmental Speed of Forwards, Defence, Goalies. I absolutley love experimenting with those (along with the change league avg) with ootp and chaging it throughout the baseball decades.

[GMO123]

I think the new hockey game (that I would call something like 'Hat Trick Hockey Manager' should incorporate the best of OOTP and EHM, plus any other good ideas.

Of course, being realistic, it's going to take a few years of development before all or even most of the good ideas get into the game.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

And besides, as I understand it, EHM is no longer being supported. If it was such a good game, why is it defunct?

Simple answer... Bad marketing (no promotion was done here and we all know it's our national sport).

[frisland]

I've never played OOTP, my question is how does player creation work in the the game. EHM has its re-gen system, what does OOTP use?

Also the regen players in EHM were named using the combination of first and last names present in the database, and i think did it very well (as least compared to EA sports) How does OOTP's name generator work?

thanks, and cant wait!

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by frisland

I've never played OOTP, my question is how does player creation work in the the game. EHM has its re-gen system, what does OOTP use?

Also the regen players in EHM were named using the combination of first and last names present in the database, and i think did it very well (as least compared to EA sports) How does OOTP's name generator work?

thanks, and cant wait!

OOTP creates new players, not regens.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

At the risk of being the fly in the punchbowl, I'd like to add a brief note here:

A lot of people are already comparing the WTHM game to EHM, and suggesting which parts of EHM should be saved, which should be improved, and which should be discarded. That's fine, I'd like to see the WTHM game take the best elements from every hockey simulation and incorporate them (I used to play Strat-O-Matic hockey -- there are a lot of good ideas there too).

But I've never played EHM, and I imagine there are more than a few people here who have also never played it. I'm excited about this game because I play OOTP, and it is a fantastic sports simulation. The only thing that draws me to the WTHM game, then, is the expectation that it will share many of the attributes that make OOTP such a great game. In short, I'm not looking for EHM 2.0, I'm looking for OOTP on ice. So I urge the designers to keep this in mind as they consider the suggestions offered here.

And besides, as I understand it, EHM is no longer being supported. If it was such a good game, why is it defunct?

I agree with joe. I keep reading all these comments about taking this or that from EHM.

I'm not knocking the ideas, but I'd like to see what the developers have to offer with their version of a hockey sim game before saying it needs this and that from EHM.

I played EHM for a number of years, and it had a lot of good things, but it had plenty of weaknesses too.

I just get the impression that a lot of people are saying "base this on EHM".

EHM may have been the best at the time, but it wasn't the only hockey sim around. I'd really like to see what is in store for features, etc, and then be able to say - How about adding this or tweaking that.

Just my opinion but EHM is/was not the be all to end all when it comes to hockey sims, and jumping on the EHM bandwagon saying OOTP Hockey needs all that EHM stuff is jumping before looking.

Let's see what the developers have offer us first. As was stated elsewhere, this is not EHM 2, nor should it be.

[RBLwebguy]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I agree with joe. I keep reading all these comments about taking this or that from EHM.

I'm not knocking the ideas, but I'd like to see what the developers have to offer with their version of a hockey sim game before saying it needs this and that from EHM.

I played EHM for a number of years, and it had a lot of good things, but it had plenty of weaknesses too.

I just get the impression that a lot of people are saying "base this on EHM".

EHM may have been the best at the time, but it wasn't the only hockey sim around. I'd really like to see what is in store for features, etc, and then be able to say - How about adding this or tweaking that.

Just my opinion but EHM is/was not the be all to end all when it comes to hockey sims, and jumping on the EHM bandwagon saying OOTP Hockey needs all that EHM stuff is jumping before looking.

Let's see what the developers have offer us first. As was stated elsewhere, this is not EHM 2, nor should it be.

Amen!